Dear Candida,

I notice that you receive letters from time to time, mainly from women who, like myself, regard kilts as a very attractive form of dress for a boy, and wish more mothers would dress their sons this way.

                                                                           Everyday Wear

I have two boys and for them kilts are normal everyday dress at home and out, except when actually at college. They have both worn them regularly since they were small, with the result that they are perfectly used to them, and enjoy wearing them, and people remark on how attractive they look.

My liking for kilts for boys first started many years ago when I was only 16 and was invited to the wedding of a cousin. Since she had no younger sister to be a bridesmaid, she decided to have her young brother, who was then 12, as a page instead, and for this he was dressed in a kilt. This she made for him herself as she was an expert dressmaker, and indeed made her own wedding dress as well as many of her trousseau clothes.

                                                                              New Look

 This was in 1947 when the 'New Look' was all the rage. For the benefit of your younger readers who may not remember this  period, the 'New Look' was a fashion introduced just after the war in a swing away from the uniforms and rather 'military'  style clothes women wore during the war years. It brought back longer fuller skirts, about calf length, and it re-introduced tiny  laced-in waists reminiscent of Victorian days.

Cynthia's dress was, of course, full length, but to accord with the 'New Look' trend which was so popular, she gave it a very full skirt which billowed out from a tiny 18 inch waist which she achieved by much dieting and a tightly laced corset, which her mother insisted on.

                                                                             Hem Much Longer

With David's kilt she decided to compliment the 'New Look' style of her own dress by making it much longer than a boy's kilt normally is, so it came well below his knees rather than to just above, and she pleated it much more fully. She also decided, even though it was for a boy, to reflect in the kilt the wasp-waist theme of her own dress by giving it a wide stiffened waist band which she deliberately made three inches smaller than David's waist actually measured. Her mother agreed David should be corseted to enable him to have the kilt fastened and so he would look as nice as possible in it.

                                                                        Looked Adorable

In fact, he looked adorable at the wedding. Above the kilt he wore a frilly white blouse with a high ruffled neck, and he wore black buckled shoes and black stockings, and to complete the picture he had a flower pinned in his hair, the same kind as in Cynthia's bouquet.

Although Cynthia was very pretty and her dress magnificent, it was David who really stole the show. Everyone remarked on how attractive he looked in his 'New Look' page clothes, and the word 'pretty', not normally used for a boy, was being used freely. In fact, this was the only word to properly describe how he looked. He had always been a good looking boy with fair hair and a smooth, almost girlish, complexion and features, but dressed as he was he became my ideal. He still looked very much a boy, but his long kilt, pretty blouse and tiny waist gave him a demure 'girlish' look which, at 16, I found stunning.

His deportment was attractive too, his carriage and general bearing displaying the constrained 'corseted' look which was a typical feature of the 'New Look' period. Indeed, his corsets clearly inhibited any of the ungainly movements which one might expect of a boy his age, and this coupled with the fullness and length of his kilt made his movements very attractive and graceful.

He had clearly been practised thoroughly in how to move and carry himself well in his page clothes, and Cynthia told me later this had taken three months. The first step had been to get him accustomed to being in corsets and having them laced, and for this he was made to start wearing them regularly under his ordinary clothes. They were of course girls' ones, designed specifically to give a wasp-waisted 'New Look' shape, and for this they were boned and laced at the back, and they came high above his waist at the top and right down to his thighs below to give the whole figure the 'well corseted' look the fashion demanded.

Naturally he protested when he was finally put into them---as I did when I was made to wear similar ones for my first 'New Look' dress---but a combination of persuasion from his sister and firmness from his mother soon overcame this problem. He was made to have them on every evening when he got home from school, and all day at weekends, but at this stage, Cynthia told me, he wasn't laced tightly but just enough to make him FEEL corseted and to enable him to get accustomed to the restriction of the boning. He then had his corsets laced progressively tighter as he got used to the feeling and after a month he was having his waist laced in the full three inches which was necessary for his kilt, but only for short periods. Gradually however, these periods were lengthened and eventually he was able to stand being tightly laced all day.

                                                                              Good Behaviour

Apparently he was quite good during this training although he used to complain at the restriction of the boning. And apparently also he hated having to wear stockings with his corsets which his mother insisted on. Cynthia told me this was because, without them, the bottom edge of the corset tended to ride up and ruck and become uncomfortable, but with stockings on and the suspenders fastened this didn't happen---an effect all women who have worn corsets know well!

My aunt was strict with him when he complained however, with the result that he eventually got accustomed to the discipline and at weekends Cynthia or his mother would lace him up in the morning and he would spend all day with his waist laced in very tightly with just one hour's 'relief' in the afternoon. In the final week before the wedding he was on holiday and during this period his mother kept him laced up all the time, even at night, so that 'on the day' his corsets would feel completely normal on him.
                                                                      Given Deportment Lessons

In addition to this training he was given lessons in deportment by his sister and my aunt who taught him how to move gracefully in a long skirt, how to stand, walk, sit and bend down nicely while wearing it, all the time tightly corseted as he would be at the wedding.  The result of this training was that 'on the day' he was able to wear his page clothes perfectly, and get through the whole day without difficulty. As I know from my own experience of being tightly laced for the 'New Look' in those days, spending many hours laced-in tightly is not easy. At the wedding, my own waist was laced-in, as most girls were for the 'New Look' outfits, and I remember wondering how I was going to get through the day without fainting or something. In the event I cheated, as girls often did, by going to the ladies' several times and loosening my corsets to give my figure 'a rest', then getting a friend to tighten the laces again so I could go back. David couldn't do this and I remember being full of admiration for him. Neither was Cynthia, and how she got through with her 18 inch waist I shall never know, except that she was naturally slim and she told me her mother had been strict with her 'training' too, keeping her laced all the time at home.

                                                                           Revert to the Kilt

To revert to the kilt, Cynthia told me later too that David wore a rayon silk petticoat under it to make it hang nicely, and
knickers of the same material. On his mother's insistence these had elastic legs for the sake of decency and she said David hated these. It seems he complained more about these, admittedly very feminine, but nevertheless harmless and completely hidden items of underwear, than about his corsets which, although hidden too, were exacting, and 'visible' in the sense of giving him a tiny waist and girlish figure which all could see.

I think this was basically because he liked the kilt (as I have since discovered most boys do) and wanted to he seen wearing it to please his sister whom he adored, even though it meant corsets and being made somewhat girlish. For me it was the start of my interest in kilt (and corsets) for males and when my own boys were quite small I put them into kilts as their normal dress to wear at home when playing, and I always found them very easy and practical to deal with. This continued as they got older, and although they had shorts and other trousers too, they used to prefer their kilts as they liked the freedom of them.

                                                                          Going Out in Kilts

For going out, they have properly tailored kilts which they wear with a sporran, but as these are so expensive at home they wear girls' kilt skirts which are much cheaper and do just as well.

Although David objected to his petticoat and knickers, I agree with Cynthia and my aunt that these are necessary under a kilt. A silky petticoat makes it hang much better and makes a nice 'swishing' sound as it swings. As for knickers, girls’ ones with elastic legs are best under a kilt particularly if it is short. Although I hated them at school, I have always made the boys wear the ordinary navy blue 'schoolgirl' kind, as these were the cheapest until a few years ago, when they became difficult to find. I now get them other kinds with loose legs and put elastic in them myself as I still feel this is nicer when they are playing.

As to corsets, these are not very practical for a boy these days, although I do feel a kilt looks best if the waist is small. For this reason I always make sure the waistbands of their kilts are tight (the girls' kilt skirts I buy for them normally have tight waistbands, but I have to alter their tailored kilts) and I have recently started making Philip, the elder boy, wear a boned elastic pantie girdle under his kilt which pulls in his waist a bit as well as holding his figure firmly and improving his bearing.

With the kilt, when they are at home, they normally wear their ordinary shirts, but long socks and buckled shoes. For 'going out', or for special occasions, they have some very pretty white frilled blouses which I make them wear as I think they look so nice on a young boy. They dislike these however as they are girls' ones and have high frilly collars and cuffs which they say are 'silly' but which in fact are very attractive, although perhaps a little uncomfortable.

I know many other women share my view on the use of kilts for males and I do hope more of them will write to you to let us know their views.

Yours truly,

(Mrs) J.D., London N.W. 1.